This op-ed was drafted a day before Gov Salman Taseers assassination, erringly it talks about peace and the notion of blasphemy in Pakistan

As we round the corner, saying goodbye to 2010 and entering the new year, everyone chooses to make a new year’s resolution. Promises are made, hoping for some miraculous conviction that will transform our wishes into a reality. But practically, each one of us knowingly accepts that these promises are meant to be broken, only to be remade the following year. Many wishes are egocentrically linked to personal wealth and happiness, while some fools, like me, choose to wish for a better and a peaceful Pakistan.

Innocent and howsoever utopian this resolution may sound, it should have an important place amongst every Pakistani. After the bloodshed from the escalating violence and uncontrolled terror attacks, one would have hoped that the disastrous year would have sent shockwaves compelling people to denounce terrorism with a very strong commitment to peace. Denounce they do, but it’s limited to a simple vocal chatter rather than concrete measures to prevent such bloodshed from happening again.
Shocking as it is, I get a sense that Pakistanis have lost all hope for peace. They have been reduced to pawns in a political chess match, being used by other people who have little interest in bringing peace to their country. I choose to share the example of two back-to-back days: December 31, 2010 and January 1, 2011. These two days, interconnected with a common midnight, presented a jolting reminder that the people are being used as pawns for something that is completely not in their interest.

On December 31, the political opposition pulled off a nationwide strike, opposing any amendments to the blasphemy law. The strike had more to do with exerting political pressure on their opponents and less to do with Islam or even the notion of religious freedom. It also, in some indirect way, reaffirmed that Pakistani society accepts this form of blasphemous violence as an acceptable norm and part of its culture. And this comes as a bit of a surprise, given that people, by and large, condemn acts of terrorism perpetrated by militants and extremists.

The very next day on January 1, 2011, the Aman Ittehad, an apolitical citizen platform striving for peace, democracy and justice in Pakistan, organised a peace rally in 109 cities across Pakistan. One would imagine that such a call for peace would get strong support, yet I stood outside the Karachi Press Club with only a few dozen likeminded citizens chanting slogans for peace. The biggest crowd-pullers were in Islamabad and Lahore, which only managed to muster a few hundred supporters of peace each.

Only a few thousand people across 109 cities is a shocking reminder that the issue of peace is not on the radar of either the political parties or the citizens of Pakistan. I’m not an easy man to get disheartened, but when I walked back home from that rally in Karachi, I realised the stark difference between the two days. Ruthless politicians have degraded the people of Pakistan to such a level that they have lost any glimmer of hope to wish for peace in their own country. Call me stupid, but with such overwhelming odds, I’m probably barking up the wrong tree.

The politicians, as we all know, will continue to play their game of musical chairs, ensuring that the public remains mesmerised in their mystical trance, while the media plays alongside, focusing on its own gallery of viewer ratings. The ruling clique, and those associated with it on the periphery, will never seek to change Pakistan. After all, why should it, since it is achieving its own set of handsome profits at the behest of Pakistan’s disasters.

Is it possible that I might be living in a country whose people have forgotten what’s best for them? I hope not. But one thing is for sure. I get an overwhelming sensation that we have given up on Pakistan. Have we? Please prove me wrong.

32 Comments

Aman Ittehad rally had a decieving agenda. Although it had the nice pitch of Aman and ittehad but we all know it was just meant to pressurize govt to annul the blasphemy law, thus encouraging people to insult the beloved prophet of Islam and get away with it.

I don't endorse the abuse of blasphemy law, but at the same time I do not want it to be annuled so that we may be seen as POSH on MTV.

"The strike had more to do with exerting political pressure

on their opponents and less to do with Islam…", Political:What do you base this on? was MQM involved in the rally? Islam: Because you are an authority on Islam?

Don't think if people don't buy what you are selling that people have given up on Pakistan. Check the product you are selling before you question the sanity of the people.

1. If the blasphemy law is annuled; it should not be taken as encouragement to insult the prophet. We do have a historic evidence to prove this; you can easily check how many cases of this kind of incidents have happened prior to enactment of this law and you will have your answer.

2. Nobody is asking for annulment of the law. Only ammendment is required so it can be used only for the purpose it has been intended for; instead of settling personal scores.

3. Lets assume for a second; what if this latest case of Asia Bibi is fabricated. One year of her life is already ruined. 99% of the people in this kind of cases were killed prior to the court verdict. As soon as you are charged with blasphemy law you are a marked person regardless of guilty or innocent.

4. If ammendment of the law is not a solution then what is the solution you are ready to bring to the table to protect a person from being wronglfully charged with the lives at stake?

I have complete respect for all the prophets however I am against the law as it provides a loaded gun in the hands of the accuser without any consequences on his own well being in case he has charged wrongly.

You talk about a deceiving agenda of Aman Ittehad, I think you merely base this argument on assumptions – no where in any document / draft / statement or comment did Aman Ittehad even mention the word Blasphemy, even a simple search on my blog of all their posts you will not find anything – http://teeth.com.pk/blog/2010/12/31/press-stateme… or any other post

And you comment to say "Islam: Because you are an authority on Islam?" Never too did I ever imply that

Comeback with a some logical arguments based on fact – not assumptions

Wah – you talk about Pakistan, yet dont have the balls to put your own name, how ironic

"People Have forgotten whats best for them" does not imply western agenda, it means PEACE & DIGNITY in their daily lives – maybe in your understanding it has no place in an Islamic Society, or am i wrong to assume that

How much funnier can it get! I am surprised that a person who would have had reasonable education, ( as you are using the internet and English language) would like to outsource "thinking", while abusing and accusing a fellow citizen for his "thinking" and "opinion", for a better Pakistan and which he has a right to, in a democracy. Your comments seems to be in support of the killings and mayhem and all that is ill with the Pakistan society, though you lament "the PEACE" in Iraq and Afghanistan. I always thought that the guys who encouraged senseless killings and terrors were a bunch of disgruntled, unemployed, young men in some far off mountain/inaccessible hideouts, egged on and USED by some semi senile and impotent old men, compensating their shortcoming in bed. "Your kind" surprised me!

"And you comment to say “Islam: Because you are an authority on Islam?” Never too did I ever imply that"

so what does this underlined phrase in the following line mean "The strike had more to do with exerting political pressure

on their opponents and less to do with Islam…"

So how did you figure that out? Does it not imply that you know Islam more than the people organizing the rally in support of Blasphemy law? Because you can not prove the first part of the argument, was the biggest political party of Karachi present in the rally to pressurize the govt.

If Aman Ittehad rally was not meant to be against the blasphemy law then why are you comparing apples to oranges? and why you feel sad that 1000s of people showed up in support of the law, where as there were 10s in the Aman Ittehad rally.

If Aman Ittehad was really meant for Aman and ittehad then why were these b!tches sleeping when Pashto speaking people and Urdu speaking people were murdered by ethnic based gangs in all over Karachi.

In my opinion the Aman-Ittehad thing was just a bubble, a transient emotional thing with little depth to it. I felt embarrassed with the tame, toothless slogans that were being bandied about as something out of the ordinary. I suggested some realistic slogans, more relevant to the Pakistani society today, but those were probably too radical for the smug organisers.

In Pakistan today a system of apartheid operates, two parallel worlds of 'haves' and 'have nots'. The former, living in their ivory towers away from ordinary Pakistanis, have arrogated to themselves such fancy titles as "liberal" and "humanist" whereas the ugly reality is that these people are the worst sort of oppressors who are mercilessly fleecing the poorest of Pakistanis and denying them equal opportunities in life by erecting a thick wall of English which ordinary people cannot penetrate. Behind that sky-high wall of English these shameless followers of the worst aspects of American culture wallow in obscene luxury.

As for the blasphemy law, ordinary people need to be informed of all the issues in a language that they can understand. Therefore, the fake humanists need to step down from their ivory towers and speak to people in Urdu or in the language of the region they belong to. A babble of voices in English may win the brainwashed Pakistanis them a pat or two on the back from their foreign friends but it is entirely useless in saving Asia Bibi from the intolerable situation she finds herself in.

The tragedy of Pakistan is that it is being destroyed by two equally evil opposing forces: the USA-worshippers and the army of foolish mullahs who have distorted our Deen into a religion of weird ideas and rituals.

I think we all know that illogical, emotionally unbalanced individuals are amongst us, no need to prove this by allowing some of the above comments to appear on your blog. It boils the blood that no one wants to read the Quran, research the Sunnah, and BE AN AUTHORITY ON ISLAM rather than believe whatever comes out from the pulpit.

We are ruled by corrupt people and many of the people celebrate the murderers…

If I murder someone, and some Governor comes along and calls the law that was used to convict me a 'black law', does that make the Governor a murderer as well? It doesn't, so why are people thinking that Mr Taseer was a blasphemer by calling a "man made law" a black law? (Please note, these laws are made my men…and people interpret different things differently. For example, Imam Abu Hanifa's fatwa on blasphemey is DIFFERENT than what is right now the law in Pakistan, that doesn't make Imam Abu Hanifa RA a blasphemer) …

The solution is not to convince the people at large, but to stop the uncontrolled use of the mosque.

Are you comparing Imam Abu Hanifah (r.a) with Salman Taseer? And you think you are logical "kana" among the illogical "andhay". LOL!!!. If you murder someone, courts convicts you in the case, and you have the option to appeal the conviction in higher court knowing full well such convictions are almost always set aside by higher courts yet a governor abuses his authority to interfere in matters that are clearly outside his jurisdiction. All the while a mob of journalists, artists, dentists and every tom dick and harry besieges the media in opposition to the law you can imagine how seriously the ordinary man will perceive this circus. Remember logic won't take you anywhere without the facts and the perspective.

"The solution is not to convince the people at large, but to stop the uncontrolled use of the mosque."

Certainly, but what do you mean by mosque, in the first place?

As I understand the Islamic God declares the entire face of earth as mosque, with no mullah, no Loudspeaker (PBUI). It is sonic terrorism of the holy LSpeaker with mullah haranguing at full throat that needs to be got rid of to usher in peace in our society.

I don't think one should be disheartened at the number-game. All good causes, even the Mohammadan Islam had started with a few followers which now number in billions, despite anti-Mohammad blasphemy law of the Mushrikin-e-Makah working against them. As history tells us, the first few Muslims of Makah had to seek asylum in a Christian country, Habshah, to escape the BL of the Mushrikin-e-Makah and later on all of them had to migrate to Madinah for the same reason. Just imagine what would happen if the Christian West today enacts similar Blasphemy laws as exist in Pakistan, especially, against Ahmadies, how would the Muslims react.

"If the west enacts a similar blasphemy law, then all the christians would immigrate first.

Just like ahmedis, they call themselves as christians but have nothing to do with Christianity."

You have a point of course, but tell me whether the paky muslims have any thing to do with Islam, except to submit a declaration to the theocracy to that effect and chant 'inshaallah, alhamdulillah' ritualistically. Even their constitution which declares usury (interest) 'halal' is a declaration of war against Allah and Rasool and of all the world it declares only the Ahmadies as non-muslim 'wajibul-qatl' and requires only those pakies who call them muslim to submit declaration about their faith to become 'halfy muslims'.

the Mullahs are in Politics.. look what they have done to Pakistan.. divided into factions and sects.. this what happens when you allow religion into mainstream politics. you are killed because these mullahs have no understanding of the others opinions or lifestyle.. they will come in your backyard and tell you that this the way to say your namaz not the one your parents have told you.. people like Mufti Munib will make a mess of the First Moon, and he has never in his life will apologize for what he has done to nation… (DIVIDED) because his RELIGION ISLAM is much stronger then ours.. PEOPLE WAKE UP BEFORE THEY STEP IN TO YOUR BEDROOM AND TELL YOU WHAT THEY WANT FROM US. OPEN YOUR EYES.. AND MIND FOR ALLAH'S SAKE.. ONE CITIZEN OF PAKISTAN IS KILLED,, WE are All Citizen of Pakistan. If one HARAMI KHATIB instigate against a citizen of Pakistan and person like Qadri of the ELITE FORCE is just sitting on his butt and listen to his sermon without even thinking that he should have arrested that MAN.. NOOOO.. he put upon himself and Kill… now his whole family is applauded by citizen of Pakistan… HOORAH… One down 18 crores more to go.. when we will wake up.. I REally dont know..

Whats with you.. Have you gone mad.. are you so damned blind that you do not see future .. or you dont want to see.. i am talking about the PRESENT scenario that the politically religious parties HAS BEEN putting the nation through.. and you are talking about dead people.. When will you people wake up and see the consequences of any action or reaction to an event.. why do we blabber about things that we HAVE NOT LIVED IT. WAKE UP,

Pakistan has come to a point where thousands believe they are righteous and have divine authority to carry out God’s acts on this earth. The repugnant response by the supporters of Salman Taseer’s alleged killer has truly been mesmerizing. Qadri’s fan base has distorted Islam to such an extent that it has become laughable to comprehend how they perceive themselves to be protecting the sanctity of Islam. To read this article: http://bit.ly/i6eiYK

Awab the Aman Ittehad rally in Islamabad had almost 3000 participants and included labour and a cross section of people. There were large rallies in some other cities as well. The karachi rally did suffer from a lack of cooordination but should not be seen as representative of the effort that involved a 109 locations including FATA and Balochistan where being identified with peace is fraught with high risk and seen with extreme suspicion. To march down the streets of Quetta against enforced disappearances,target and torture killings is a step that many of us that are seen eloquently answering emails and replying on blogs haven’t a clur of the context or the personal risk it entails both in the immediate and the long term. More of this is needed not less.

When Taseer took the law in his hands and made a mockery of the constitution by declaring that an under trial prisoner will be freed without the completion of the trial, nobody objected. Such blatant abuse of power resulted in the response by Qadri.

Blasphemy against the Prophet (Sallalahu allihae wasalam) is punishable by death and if a law is not in place to implement the shariah aspect of blasphemy and its punishment then obviously people will take the law in their hands.